Bradford says he wants Tapestry Square to re-create “the healthy mixed-use and economically diverse neighborhood that existed in the area from the 1880s to 1970 or so.”

Ten of the 32 units in Tapestry Square’s first two apartment buildings were set aside for low-income residents, Bradford says. Four others were reserved for moderate income tenants, he said.

The 36 market-rate condominiums they plan to build next also will include some low- income residents whose purchase price will be subsidized, says Bradford, whose nonprofit agency has fixed up and sold more than 500 homes to poor families over the past 38 years.

But Tapestry Square, which is being built by a for-profit arm of ICCF to qualify for financing, will not have a low-income feel. ICCF is placing an upscale day spa and salon in the retail space of one apartment building and negotiating with a sandwich shop chain and coffee house chain for the other building.

Besides new housing, ICCF also hopes to bring a full-service grocery store and other retailers to the corner of Wealthy and Division as part of the Tapestry Square project.

Although they have not found a grocery vendor yet, Bradford is confident the influx of new residents, the opening of the Downtown Market and the arrival of the Silver Line Bus Rapid Transit will create enough demand for a grocery store.

A full-service grocery store will not compete with the Downtown Market in its goal to serve the needs of all downtown residents, Bradford said. “The Downtown Market will not sell Pampers,” he said.

Bradford is not alone in his quest. Other developers also are taking advantage of state-issued credits to create housing for low-income residents in the neighborhood.

“As this area of the city begins its transformation, it is key to have high-quality, lower-cost housing available,” said Mike VanGessel, CEO of Rockford Construction at the September groundbreaking for the $17 million project.

MLive.com

Located across from the new Downtown Market, the apartments at Baker Lofts will rent from $450 to $550 a month for single-bedroom units and from $550 to $750 a month for two-bedroom units.

Dwelling Place, a nonprofit housing developer that has created much of the housing north of Wealthy Street, is expanding Herkimer Apartments, a housing project that was created out of the 117-year-old Herkimer Hotel.

The $10 million renovation will convert the old building’s 122 studio apartments into 55 single-bedroom apartments. The project also will add a five-story, 67-unit apartment building behind the old hotel.

Mayor George Heartwell, who was pastor of a storefront ministry several blocks north of Wealthy Street, said he is proud that the Heartside Neighborhood was able to grow without abandoning or forcing out low-income residents.

Since the Van Andel Arena was built in the mid-1990s, several market-rate housing developments, two universities and a law school have moved into the Heartside neighborhood without causing gentrification, Heartwell said.

“There has been zero displacement of low-income people in the neighborhood,” Heartwell said.

“I’m quite proud of the fact that this is a city that has been able to accommodate the growth and redevelopment of the neighborhood without displacing the poor who have called it home.”